‘Kari’ seeks protection

Mariam, a young widow who chose to re-marry with her consent, says that her life is in danger and urged authorities to provide the couple protection. Her husband, Ghulam Mohammed Turk, an employee of Tando Jam Agricultural University claims that his wife has been declared ‘Kari’ and fears that they will be killed.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Monday, Mariam, 25, alleges that she is being threatened from her uncle and brothers after the death of her ex-husband. Moreover, she says that she left her home in Khipro, district Sanghar, and married Turk in 2007. Fearing for their lives, Maryam says they shifted to Lahore. Later, her relatives met Turk and requested if Maryam could be taken back to her village as her father was ill.

Turk, she explains obliged the request with a promise that they will return her in eight days. Mariam,having no children from her first husband, says that her relatives started subjecting her to threatening attitude again. “They prepared fake documents and married me off to a 12-year old boy,” she says, however, Mariam escaped and reunited with her husband. Her relatives, meanwhile, continue to threaten them of dire consequences. The couple have urged the chief minister Sindh and the Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari to provide them protection.
Source: The News
Date:5/6/2008